Following the much disputed victory of Robert Mugabe in the long awaited March 2002 presidential elections, several major elections have been held in Zimbabwe. These elections have been influenced by four main factors. These are violence, voter apathy, the economic crisis, and the on and off again talks between the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union- Patriotic Front (Zanu- PF), says a report from the Zimbabwe Election Support Network on the post-election environment.

The African elephant does not make a good neighbour. In the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem, it is simultaneously an endangered species and a pest. How can conservationists work with other stakeholders to lessen the conflict between wildlife and people and to reduce the impact of safari tourism? Can there be a win-win situation for animals, locals and tourists?

Today, some 200 million people in sub-Saharan Africa don't know where their next meal will come from and, despite international aid, Africa will still have 183 million undernourished citizens by 2030, according to a report published this year by the UN Millenium Task Force. Against this backdrop, Africa is emerging as one of the front lines in the battle for acceptance of genetically modified (GM) crops.

Solar panels are bringing environmentally friendly power to homes, health centres, schools and other facilities in the Nuba mountains in south central Sudan, helping impoverished communities recover from decades of conflict that ended in a ceasefire last year. Sudan suffers from a huge shortage of energy, with only 15 per cent of the population, mainly those living in urban areas, linked to power grids.

The Sudanese government’s efforts to control oilfields in the war-torn south have resulted in the displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians, Human Rights Watch says in a new report. Foreign oil companies operating in Sudan have been complicit in this displacement, and the death and destruction that have accompanied it. The report, “Sudan, Oil, and Human Rights,” investigates the role that oil has played in Sudan’s civil war. This 754-page report is the most comprehensive examination yet published of the links between natural-resource exploitation and human rights abuses.

Riled by the challenges of trying to eke out a living on an arid piece of land, Zephania Phiri combined traditional agricultural wisdom with scientific land management to turn subsistence farming into a bountiful venture. Phiri's lifelong dedication to soil nutrition and water conservation generated an innovative land husbandry regime that is well regarded by agro-ecologists.

Tribal militants armed with automatic weapons have seized two oil platforms in the offshore waters of Nigeria belonging to the oil giant ChevronTexaco, taking several workers hostage.

Vehicles driven off-road by irresponsible tourists are causing long-term damage to the Richtersveld National Park's delicate desert environment. The park - on the Orange River - is across the border from Namibia's Fish River Canyon Park.

One of nine children from a Kenyan village where education was not a priority and girls traditionally did not receive any, Zeinab Musa watched each day as her three brothers departed for school and wished that she, too, could go. So determined was she to get an education, Zeinab would sneak out of the house, sit outside the school building, and learn through the windows. After weeks of this, her older brother brought her inside, where, at mid-year, without any books or a school uniform, she began her formal education.

Only 40.5 percent of the Republic of Congo's 3.1 million people have access to clean water, the country's energy, mines and water resources minister, Philippe Mvouo, said on Saturday upon his return home from a conference for African water ministers that had been held in Burkina Faso.

E-mail, the net, weblogs, instant messaging, text messaging, multi-media messaging... the list of ways to communicate electronically in the 21st Century is growing. To web guru Jakob Nielsen, it is computers which are starting to control us, and it is time to "rule the computer and put it back in its place".

Of the 39 countries which recently signed a declaration outlawing illegal logging 31 came from Africa, an indication of how seriously the problem of illegal logging is viewed around the continent. The declaration came at the Africa Forest Law Enforcement and Governance (AFLEG) conference held in Yaounde, Cameroon, last month, which was co-hosted by the Cameroonian government and World Bank, the UN Wire service reported.

Why do over a billion people still lack access to safe water and another 2.4 billion people adequate sanitation? Water resources are becoming increasingly stressed. What are the links between water resources management and economic development and security, and the links between water and sanitation services and health and livelihoods outcomes?

One of the world’s rarest animals is facing a renewed battle against extinction after being hit by a rabies outbreak, a leading wildlife expert has warned.

Blocked drains, heaps of garbage in the streets, remnants of food and disused household items: these things have become a common sight in the Nigerian commercial capital of Lagos over the past few years, prompting some to label it the "dirtiest city in the world". The unsanitary conditions have reportedly led to cholera outbreaks, and in a suburb like Iwaya disease spreads quickly.

Access to affordable energy is an enormous issue for most of the world's urban and rural poor. It is a common understanding in development circles that provision of adequate and affordable energy services can contribute significantly to the development and upliftment of communities. Read the latest edition of e-civicus, which focuses on energy issues, by visiting http://www.civicus.org or sending an email to [email protected].

Sub-Saharan Africa is in the midst of an oil boom as foreign energy companies pour billions of dollars into the region for the exploration and production of petroleum. African governments, in turn, are receiving billions of dollars in revenue from this boom. Oil production on the continent is set to double by the end of the decade and the United States will soon be importing 25 percent of its petroleum from the region. Over $50 billion, the largest investment in African history, will be spent on African oil fields by the end of the decade.

An international environmental journalism conference is scheduled later this month in South Africa as part of "Earth Festival," hosted by the city of Cape Town. Journalists from Africa and beyond will meet on November 20 and 21 at the Nelson Mandela Gateway Auditorium in Cape Town to explore pressing issues facing people, the planet and their profession.

A banned chemical which depletes the ozone layer is in use in Kenya. Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) is widely used in cooling systems in the country, contrary to the Montreal Protocol, a United Nations meeting in Nairobi was told.

The Crisis Care Line, a Merebank-based community organisation, battling air pollution in south Durban has stated that the eThekwini municipality's efforts to curb air pollution through the importation of 'sniffing' machines were not good enough. Commenting on the announcement that the monitoring equipment had arrived in the city as part of a R28m plan to curb air pollution in the industrial basin, organisation chairman Ebrahim Sheik asked what the city authorities and the minister were now going to do to put a stop to the problem. According to Sheik the three main culprits of air pollution in the area - Engen, Sapref and Mondi - had promised two years ago to turn a classroom at the Settlers Primary School into a clinic, but has never fulfilled their side of the deal.